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The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) is conducting a class action against the State of Victoria in relation to alleged contraventions of the Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement 2016 and the Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement 2020.
The class action concerns VPS Grades 5 to 7 employees in the Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS). The alleged contraventions arise from DJCS’s policy of not making any progression or top of grade payments to DJCS employees classified as VPS Grades 5, 6 or 7 who were assessed as having “achieved expectations” in their end of year performance review.
Maurice Blackburn are the lawyers for the CPSU and the other two lead applicants who are both VPS employees (Applicants).
What is the VPS Progression Payments Class Action about?
The ‘VPS Progression Payments’ class action has been commenced by the CPSU and two VPS employees.
The Applicants allege that, under the Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement 2016 or the Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement 2020 (the Enterprise Agreements), employees who are assessed as having “met” their “progression criteria” as part of a performance review are entitled to a monetary progression payment.
The Applicants allege that when DJCS employees classified as VPS Grades 5, 6 or 7 were assessed as having “achieved expectations”, DJCS did not make any progression payment to them. The Applicants allege that DJCS instead required that those employees be assessed as having “exceeded expectations” to receive a progression payment. The Applicants allege that those employees “met” their “progression criteria” by being assessed as “achieved expectations” and were therefore entitled to a progression payment. The Applicants allege that those employees are entitled to compensation.
DJCS contends that it complied with the Enterprise Agreements by only making progression payments to VPS Grades 5, 6 and 7 employees who were assessed as having an overall rating of “exceeded expectations” or higher.
Frequently Asked Questions about the VPS Progression Payments Class Action
A class action is a legal proceeding where seven or more people have claims against the same individual or corporation in respect of, or arising out of similar circumstances, such that their claims give rise to a substantial common issue of law or fact. Where these criteria are met, class action proceedings can be commenced by one or more of those people on behalf of some or all of them.
The class action process is intended to save time and expense and avoids the need for the court to determine common issues of fact or law more than once. It enables disputes and claims involving large numbers of people to be resolved through a single case.
You do not need to register or sign up to be a group member in the DJCS class action.
The CPSU is funding the proceeding as well as being one of the lead Applicants.
The Applicants intend to seek that the compensation be paid to group members and the penalties be paid to the CPSU. The Court will decide those matters later and only if the class action succeeds. You will be notified further at that time and will have an opportunity to be heard.
If the class action succeeds, but any penalties ordered to be paid to the CPSU do not cover its expenses in funding the case, or no penalties are ordered to be paid to the CPSU at all, the Applicants intend to seek an order requiring that part of the compensation paid to group members be used to contribute to the CPSU’s costs in bringing this class action on their behalf.
No, you are not liable for any legal costs simply by remaining a group member. As above, if the class action succeeds, the Applicants may seek an order requiring that part of the compensation paid to group members be used to contribute to the costs of running the proceeding, but will only do so if those costs are not met by the penalties that the Applicants are seeking be ordered against DJCS.
It is too early to predict how long this legal action will take, so we are unable to provide any guidance on likely timeframes at this stage.
We are continuing to work hard to obtain the best possible outcome for group members as soon as possible.
Client confidentiality and privacy are very important to us. You can access our Privacy Policy here.
If you still have questions, please call Maurice Blackburn on 1800 995 570 or email us at djcsclassaction@mauriceblackburn.com.au.
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